Beef heart is a very fascinating ingredient. Being a high-activity muscle, heart as an ingredient can eat chewy after being treated with most cooking methods. However, I love preparing it in a marinade, then searing it, almost like how you treat ahi tuna. I actually never touched a beef heart before I made this recipe. It was on my to-cook list for a while(I have worked with a ton of organ meats being a former butcher and all), but I just never could find it until recently. And there are a few things I will have to warn about when it comes to preparing a beef heart. The first is the tallow or fat. Beef heart(at least the one I purchased), came with this hard shell of beef fat around it. I was aware that the heart would have lots of veins and sinew, but I was not preparing for the beef heart to have that fat layer. Frenching and trimming that took forever(I wound up rendering and keeping the beef tallow and using it in lieu of the canola oil used in this recipe), but that is one of the costs associated with preparing a beef heart. The veins and sinew are touch and stringy, as is the silver skin, so trimming that is important so that you really are left with the softer meat of the beef heart and not the bits that you will be fighting to bite through. I marinated the beef heart with koji and mirin to impart a richer umami into the meat itself, and then seared the heart in tallow, then basted it in butter and garlic, just to really give it a pleasant flavor. The heart itself is then thinly sliced, which really eliminates any risk for the heart being chewy in texture.

To accompany the beef heart, I made a lemon-pecorino risotto. I wanted to pair with the heart something that was rich in texture, but also balanced in flavor. Pairing pecorino, a saltier cheese, with bright lemon, makes for a pleasant experience. And then adding in black pepper, it combines the best part of cacio e pepe with lemon pepper. What I love about lemon pepper is that there is a chemical reaction where the acid from the lemon breaks down the pepper, creating this fragrant almost umami-like sensation on your palate. And then of course, cheese only makes things better. The pecorino adds salt as well as a nuttiness that plays off of the toasted rice in the risotto itself. With making a risotto, the main rule is to always stir it while it is cooking so that it does not burn, and keep the stock that you add to the rice warm, just so that the rice grains consistently cook through as you stir it. The stirring is important also because that is how you release starch from the grains, resulting in a creamier textured risotto. The combination of this flavorful risotto with the seared smoky beef heart was quite tasty and one that I would love to revisit when I feel like dealing with all of that beef tallow again.

For the beef heart:
1/2 lb beef heart
1 tbsp koji
1 tbsp mirin
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
a pinch of black pepper
Canola oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic

Start by trimming the fat off the exterior of the beef heart before splitting it in half widthwise – you should have two wide, flat “steaks”. Carefully remove any sinew or veiny bits from the interior of the heart flaps. In a bowl, combine koji, mirin, salt, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and black pepper. Toss the beef heart pieces in the liquid, allowing it to marinate in that bowl for at least 1 hour, covered and refrigerated. Right before you plan to sear the beef heart, rinse the exterior off with clean water and pat it dry. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and pepper onto the exterior of the heart pieces again. Heat up a nonstick or cast iron pan then add in a small amount of canola oil. Sear the beef heart pieces on high heat in the oil, 2 minutes per side. Then add in the butter and garlic, and lower the heat. Base the melted butter and garlic onto each side of the heart steaks, 20 times per side. Allow the beef heart steaks to rest on a roasting rack for 2-3 minutes before slicing them against the grain.

For the risotto:
1 cup short grain rice
1 shallot, peeled and finely diced
1 tsp canola oil
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
1oz cooking sake
8oz beef stock, in four parts
.5oz grated pecorino cheese
a pinch of black pepper
a pinch of salt
1.5oz heavy cream

In a large pot, start toasting off the rice and shallots in oil on low heat until the shallots are translucent. Then deglaze the pan with the lemon zest and juice, as well as the cooking sake. Once the liquid has cooked down by half, to the pot, add in one part of the beef stock and stir everything on medium heat, making sure to get the corners and bottom of the pot to make sure that the rice is not sticking to the pan whatsoever. As the liquid cooks out by half in the rice, add in another part of the beef stock and repeat heating and stirring the rice. Repeat this twice more. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, stirring until everything is mixed through the rice.

To plate:
Maldon salt

In a bowl, start with the risotto, then fan out on top of that the beef heart slices, and finish with some maldon salt.